Red Eyes
by LovelyLytton
Summary: Her eyes follow him everywhere.


** Red Eyes**  
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He knew that she had been watching him. He had known for a long time, but he was growing weary of it. Life wasn't what it was supposed to be, not with a wife who was loving the world so much that little love remained for himself, and not with a daughter that was growing odder by the minute. No, he really didn't need to feel Pluto's eyes on him even when he couldn't see her. Her position at the Gates of Time was a lonely one, so the fates had given her the gift of watching the world of the living without any boundaries, without any respects for the privacy of others. Endymion always felt Pluto's distant gaze following him through the days and nights of their utopian world.

One day, he turned a corner and walked down a deserted hallway, feeling more unsettled than usual, feeling Pluto's attention on his every step. He was weary today, worn out and irritated. There had been a big banquet the evening before and Serenity had been nothing but smiles and grace. Little Lady had hidden under the tables, never even peeking out from under the long white table cloth. She was the oddest child he had ever met and sometimes he wondered whether the bubbly girl that had fallen out of the sky and claimed to be from the future was really the same person as this weird little person he had fathered. Little Lady was nothing like her mother. Chibi-Usa and Usagi had been almost the same. Just as the guilty thoughts drove deeper and deeper into his heart, Pluto's distant gaze made his blood curl.  
He stopped dead, deciding that enough was enough. Seconds later, he opened a door that only the royal family could see and found himself in front of the misty gate. The path to this place was familiar, as if he had known it since the beginning of all time. Serenity sometimes got lost in the mist, but Endymion never did. He knew this place as well as any other part of his palace. He had made a point of knowing it this well.

Of course, Pluto didn't seem surprised to see him. She looked smug.  
"I find your habit of watching me annoying. I don't want to spend my life looking over my shoulder because I'm being haunted by a lonely woman who is too bored for her own good." He sounded almost angrier than he felt, so he quickly sent a minuscle smile after his words. A cushion to soften the blow.  
Pluto looked at him, one corner of the mouth twisting up. "Someone has to watch you."  
"I think you mean watch over me and in that case, you're mistaking me for my daughter," he shot back and felt the universe shift around them.  
She shrugged, a delicate movement on her tall frame. She was taller than Serenity, taller than Jupiter even. And still, Pluto was infinitely more feminine. The curves were enough to drive any man to distraction, let alone a starving one.

"You need the attention," she said, her red eyes knowing. Endymion has often wondered how it could be that only his daughter and the Guardian of Time had red eyes. The eyes of the devil. They should make him afraid, but they didn't. Never had. With Pluto, all he could see was temptation.  
"You think you know me, but you don't. Not at all." There was a movement, not small, not large, just one measured step towards her. The mists twisted up his leg, hovering around his ankles before rising higher until they threatened to swallow him whole.  
"I knew that you would come here again." She was mocking him now, mirth in her eyes and danger in her smile. Her face was the only part of her he could see now, just the way she wanted it to. Reaching for her hand, he could feel that she had already shed her gloves. Her skin was icy.

"Is that why you let me know that you were watching?" Endymion dropped Pluto's hands, so bare and so promising. She was able to watch them all without them ever noticing. Serenity was unaware of it and so was Venus, who always made it her business to know things she had no business knowing.  
"Maybe."  
"I love my wife." In the mist, it sounded feeble, as if the meaning of his words was muted by the white clouds. She ran a hand through her green black hair and it made him wish that she would touch him instead. "Maybe." This time, her voice was so much softer.  
"I love Serenity. You know that. This is why we stopped-"  
"You're here," she cut across him. "That's not stopping."  
"I love Serenity," Endymion repeated with emphasis. If he said it often enough, it might become the truth once again. Pluto reached for his hand and he felt himself growing cold with her icy touch. She brought truth to his life, but it was coated in a dark knowledge he never wanted. If Kunzite were still around, he would ask him if falling prey to Beryl all those years ago felt the same. But the stones were long dead and gone, and all that was left behind was himself, talking to Pluto about things that were beyond his power. They had this conversation before, time and time again. It always began with him insisting on loving Serenity. It always ended the same way too.

"You loved Usagi," Pluto whispered and kissed him. It was in moments such as these, her lips so hot against his own, that Endymion realised that Pluto did know him after all.

**The End**


End file.
